Surrey savors 10-day Greek Food Festival

As June is Greek Heritage Month in British Columbia, communities all over the Metro Vancouver region are getting ready to party, and the Greek community of Surrey is no exception.

Surrey’s Annual Greek Food Festival is expected to begin on Friday, June 8 and continue until June 17, for its 26th annual event.

Hosted by the Greek Orthodox Community of Surrey and Fraser Valley, the Surrey Greek Food Festival is a fundraiser for the church and the community as well.

Apart from the Greek dancing, music and plenty of other happenings, more importantly there will be plenty of food. The menu consists of chicken and pork souvlaki, barbecued lamb dinner, kalamari, beef and lamb dinners. There are also many options for vegetarian foodies — such as spanakopita and cheese pies, tsatsiki, including of course, Greek salad, and much, much more.

The 10-day event will be at Sts. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church, at 13181 96 Avenue & 132 Street, Surrey, from Monday to Friday 4-10 p.m. and Saturday & Sunday noon to 10 p.m.

Live entertainment

Furthermore, there will be a Kids Zone along with live entertainment available on the weekends between noon – 2 p.m.

There will also be tours of the church on Saturday, June 9 between noon and 4 p.m.

Since nearly 10,000 people are expected to attend this year’s festival, organizers have once again arranged for parking space on the lot at AHP Matthew Elementary School — located at 13367 97th Ave — approximately one block from where the event will be taking place.

Antonios (Tony) Ziskos, the president of the festival’s organizing group has announced there is a seating capacity for 500-600 people at any given time.

On good days there are two to three turnovers since some people purchase food to go. Some stay for an hour, and some stay longer than an hour, says Ziskos, especially if they’re interested in the programs and watching the dance groups.